RSC Applied Interfaces Blog

RSC Applied Interfaces has published its first articles which can be read for free here. To celebrate publishing our first articles, we asked some of our authors to discuss their work in more detail.

In this post, we hear from Annabelle Hadley, Sakshi Gautam and Byron Gates from Simon Fraser University, Canada, as they discuss their recently published article entitled ‘Niobium oxide coatings on nanostructured platinum electrocatalysts: benefits and limitations’.

This article highlights a simple method for improving the stability of a platinum electrocatalyst with nanoscale surface features. Nanoscale thin coatings of niobium oxide on platinum preserved the electrochemically active surface area while enabling access to the catalyst surface.

Discover the full article here

Niobium oxide coatings on nanostructured platinum electrocatalysts: benefits and limitations

Annabelle M. K. Hadley, Sakshi Gautam and Byron D. Gates

RSC Appl. Interfaces, 2024, Advance Article, DOI: 10.1039/D4LF00211C

Meet the authors

Annabelle Hadley is a PhD candidate in the Chemistry Department at Simon Fraser University. She received her B.Sc. from Mount Allison University in NB, Canada. Ever since she had the opportunity to conduct research as an undergraduate student, she has been interested in molecular-scale interactions at interfaces, including the interface between nanomaterials and nanomaterials and their surrounding environment. She has most recently extended this interest to the development of nanostructures with applications in electrocatalysis.

Sakshi Gautam obtained her PhD under the supervision of Professor Byron Gates in the Department of Chemistry at Simon Fraser University. Following her doctoral studies, she was a postdoctoral researcher at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in the United States. She holds a Scientist position at Chakr Innovation in Gurugram, India. Her research focuses on nanomaterials fabrication, electrodeposition, material chemistry, and electrochemistry with applications in fuel cells, electrolyzers, and metal-air batteries.

Byron Gates is a Professor of Chemistry at Simon Fraser University (SFU). He obtained his B.Sc. from Western Washington University, studying high-temperature catalysts with Prof. Mark Bussell. He studied under Prof. Younan Xia at the University of Washington for his Ph.D. in developing synthetic methods for nanomaterials and creating materials through self-assembly techniques. He also studied under Prof. George Whitesides at Harvard as a postdoctoral fellow to pursue the limits of soft lithography, patterning of electrets, and creation of nanolithography techniques. Prof. Gates has held a Canada Research Chair in Surface Chemistry and received the Faculty of Science Excellence in Teaching Award at SFU, where his research interests lie at the intersection of materials chemistry, surface science, and analytical science, which he utilizes to create, study, and apply advanced nanomaterials to applications in chemical transformations, chemical sensing, photonics, energy storage, and energy conversion.

RSC Applied Interfaces has published its first articles which can be read for free here. To celebrate publishing our first articles, we asked some of our authors to discuss their work in more detail.

In this post, you can learn more about Lori Leblond and Pascal Y. Vuillaume from COALIA, Canada, who recently published an article entitled ‘Polypropylene fabric coated with branched polyethyleneimine derivatives for high antiviral activity’.

Discover the full article here

Polypropylene fabric coated with branched polyethyleneimine derivatives for high antiviral activity

Lori Leblond, Abdessadk Anagri, Jacques Fiset, Marie-Yolande Borget, Philippe Bébin, Nancy Dumais and Pascal Y. Vuillaume

RSC Appl. Interfaces, 2024,1, 908-919. DOI: 10.1039/D4LF00142G

Meet the authors

Lori Leblond is an M.Sc. student in Materials and Metallurgy Engineering under the supervision of Prof. Gaétan Laroche (Laval University, QC, Canada) and Dr. Philippe Bébin (COALIA, Research Center of Mineralogy and Plastics Processing of the College of Thetford Mines, QC, Canada). She has also been a project manager in advanced materials chemistry at COALIA since July 2024. She received her B.Sc. degree in chemistry from Laval University in 2023. During her college and university studies, she worked on the Industrial Research Chair for Advanced Materials (NSERC). Due to the context of COVID-19, during her B.Sc., she was involved in developing highly effective antiviral polymeric coatings and investigating the annihilation mechanism of virucidal polymers. Her research interests are related to functional coatings, nanomaterials and nanocomposites, hybrids materials, surface and interface chemistry for energy, packaging, construction and biomaterials applications.

Pascal Vuillaume received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in chemistry from Laval University, QC, Canada, in 1996 and 2000, respectively. His research focused on the solid-state characterization of zwitterionomers and ionic liquid crystal polymers. As a Research Associate at the Catholic University of Louvain-la-Neuve, he investigated the structure of self-assembled polycation-clay ultrathin films. Then, as Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Montreal, he developed new polycations for gene transfection. He has been working for several years at the National Research Council of Canada investigating both the synthesis of fully fluorinated rigid polymers devoted for optical waveguide devices and the characterization of hybrid protogenic membranes for fuel cell applications. He worked for more than 10 years as a Research Director at COALIA the Research Center of Mineralogy and Plastics Processing of the College of Thetford Mines, QC, Canada. His research interests are related to biobased and biodegradable polymers and their blends, new materials for additive manufacturing and bioactive surfaces. He is currently holding the position of research and development expert advisor, still within COALIA.

RSC Applied Interfaces has published its first articles which can be read for free here. To celebrate publishing our first articles, we asked some of our authors to discuss their work in more detail.

In this post, we hear from Kauê Santos and Fabiano Bernardi from Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, as they discuss their recently published article entitled ‘Engineering Pt–CeO2 interfaces for reverse water-gas shift (RWGS) reaction’.

Discover the full article here

Engineering Pt–CeO2 interfaces for reverse water-gas shift (RWGS) reaction

Kauê G. G. dos Santos, Alisson S. Thill, Livia P. Matte, Gustavo Z. Girotto, Mateus V. Costa, Denise R. Bohn, Fernanda Poletto and Fabiano Bernardi

RSC Appl. Interfaces, 2024, 1, 992-1000. DOI: 10.1039/D4LF00064A

Meet the authors

Bernardi group

Kauê Santos

Kauê Santos completed his undergraduate Bachelor’s in Physics and his Master’s degree in Physics at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) in 2020 and 2023, respectively. During this period, he investigated the dissociation of CO2 molecules through the RWGS reaction. He is currently pursuing his PhD in Physics, also at UFRGS. Now, his focus remains on environmental issues, but this time dedicated to hydrogen storage in solid materials.

Fabiano Bernardi

Fabiano Bernardi is Associate Professor and Head of the Physics of Nanostructures Lab at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS). He was Director of the Centro de Nanociência e Nanotecnologia (CNANO), and is currently Deputy Director of the CNANO and Centro de Microscopia e Microanálise (CMM) at UFRGS. He earned his PhD in Physics at UFRGS. The main research line is Surface and Interface Physics and it is devoted to study metal/metal oxide nanoparticles used in the hydrogen storage, heterogeneous catalysis (mainly but not restricted to CO2 dissociation), photocatalytic hydrogen production, artificial photosynthesis, and photodegradation of dyes.

RSC Applied Interfaces publishes interdisciplinary work with an applied focus, which can be read for free here. To celebrate the excellent articles that have been published so far in our journal, we asked some of our authors to discuss their work in more detail.

In this post, we hear from Michael Dooley from Professor Shubham Vyas’ group at the Colorado School of Mines, as they discuss their recently published article entitled ‘Light-driven interfaces for PFAS detection and destruction’.

Read more »

RSC Applied Interfaces has published its first articles which can be read for free here. To celebrate publishing our first articles, we asked some of our authors to discuss their work in more detail.

In this post, we hear from Scott E. Crawford. Dr Scott Crawford is a research physical scientist at the National Energy Technology Laboratory, where he researches materials for luminescent and quantum sensing of various energy relevant analytes, including economically critical metals. He discusses his recently published article entitled ‘Zinc adeninate metal–organic framework-coated optical fibers for enhanced luminescence-based detection of rare earth elements’.

Discover the full article here

Zinc adeninate metal–organic framework-coated optical fibers for enhanced luminescence-based detection of rare earth elements

Scott E. Crawford, Ward A. Burgess, Ki-Joong Kim, John P. Baltrus and Nathan A. Diemler

RSC Appl. Interfaces, 2024,1, 689-698, DOI: 10.1039/D4LF00001C

RSC Applied Interfaces is a dedicated, interdisciplinary reference journal for cutting-edge research on the applications of surfaces and interfaces. In addition to the applied focus, work considered for publication in RSC Applied Interfaces is expected to be highly original and of top quality. The journal seeks to report major scientific advances beyond the state of the art, at the cutting edge of this interdisciplinary field.

• • • • • • • • Find out more about the journal
              • Read our recent articles
              • Submit your manuscript today
              • Sign up for email alerts
              • Follow us on social media

RSC Applied Interfaces has published its first articles which can be read for free here. To celebrate publishing our first articles, we asked some of our authors to discuss their work in more detail.

In this post, we hear from Miss Pranoti Patil and Dr Sushilkumar Jadhav from Shivaji University Kolhapur, India, as they discuss their recently published article entitled ‘Manganese dioxide (MnO₂) and biomass-derived carbon-based electroactive composite materials for supercapacitor applications’.

Discover the full article here

Manganese dioxide (MnO₂) and biomass-derived carbon-based electroactive composite materials for supercapacitor applications

Pranoti H. Patil and Sushilkumar A. Jadhav

RSC Appl. Interfaces, 2024, 1, 624-647. DOI: 10.1039/D4LF00085D

Insights from the authors

Our review article contains a compilation of the latest research and developments in the synthesis of manganese dioxide and biomass-derived, carbon-based composites to be used as electrode materials in energy storage devices.

With the growing demand for high-performance energy storage devices, supercapacitors have gained significant attention. This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of how MnO₂-biomass-derived carbon composites as electroactive materials are advancing the capabilities of supercapacitors. The review outlines different types of MnO₂ and their characteristic features, as well as different biomasses used for the synthesis of carbons with desired properties. It offers a detailed examination of the various methods used for synthesizing biomass-derived carbon materials and provides insights into the sustainability and environmental benefits of using biomass-derived carbon materials.

It also contains information about different morphologies of MnO₂ and biomass-derived carbon-based composites that contain MnO₂ in forms such as nanosheets, nanowires, nanorods, nanoflakes, nanoneedles, nanowrinkles, nanoplates, nanowalls etc. We have provided corresponding reproduced structural characterization images with our discussion.

The discussion covers several latest reports and provides a comparative analysis of the electrochemical performance of various MnO₂-carbon-based composite materials, such as their specific capacitance and power densities, cyclic stability, and electrolytes used in the devices.

Our review provides insights into the advancement and future research directions in this field. These insights can guide the development of more efficient and sustainable energy storage devices. Our latest research focuses on the development of new carbons from cheap or no-cost biomasses, a timely subject considering the economic aspects of energy storage devices.

We invite you to read our review article to gain a deeper understanding of the subject and prospects of this exciting and interesting field of research.

Meet the authors

Miss Pranoti Patil obtained her Master of Science degree from Shivaji University Kolhapur, India, with excellent academic records. Her research works are focused on the synthesis and electrochemical testing of biomass-derived carbon, manganese dioxide, conducting polymers, and carbonaceous materials such as carbon nanotubes, graphene oxide, and reduced graphene oxide-based binary as well as ternary nanocomposites as electrode materials to be used in energy storage devices like supercapacitors and battery type supercapacitors.

Dr Sushilkumar Jadhav obtained his Ph.D. degree from the University of Genova, Italy. He has extensive research experience in Europe. At present, he is working as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the School of Nanoscience and Technology, Shivaji University, Kolhapur. His research works are focused on the synthesis of various hybrid, porous, and polymer-grafted nanomaterials for energy storage, drug delivery, environmental remediation, and nanocatalysis applications. He is involved in various multidisciplinary research projects. He is also a member of important scientific organizations at the national and international levels.